Rotary time switch for self-winding clocks and the like



March 3, 1931. I u, SUNDBLAD 1,794,993

ROTARY TIME SWITCH FOR SELF WINDING CLOCKS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. .20, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY March 3, 1931. u. SUNDBLAD 1,794,993

nomw TIME swI'rcH FOR SELF WINDING CLOCKS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 20, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

March 3, 1931. u, SUNDBLAD 1,794,993

' ROTARY TIME SWITCH FOR SELF WINDING CLOCKS AND THE LINE Filed Jan. 20, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

March 3, 1931. u. L. suNbBLAD 1,794,993

ROTARY TIME SWITCH FOR SELF WINDING CLOCKS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 20. 1928 4 Sheets-Shoat 4 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 3, 1931 UNITED STATES UNO L. SUNDBLAD, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT ROTARY TIME SWITCH FOR SELF-WINDING CLOCKS AND THE LIKE Application filed January 20, 1928. Serial No. 248,122.

This invention relates to an electric switch, and the object thereof is to provide a simple automatic rotary switch, with wiping contacts and quick make and break, adapted to be mechanically actuated first by one and then by a, second driven member of a mechanism or mechanisms to alternately make and break an electric circuit. More specifically, the object of the invention is to provide, in a self-winding clock, simple, cheap and efficient means for the control of the circuit of an electric motor geared to or otherwise operatively connected with the winding shaft of the clock, whereby the motor will be started when the clock has run for a predetermined period but before it has run down and will be stopped when the clock has been rewound.

To this end, my improved control switch has for its stationary element a dislcshaped member provided with a plurality two, four, or more-of crown or peri heral ratchet teeth or tooth-like projections, the faces of which, preferably of low pitch and inclined only for the inner portion of their length, are alternately ofa conducting material electrically connected with the motor circuit and of a non-conducting material or of conducting material insulated from the motor circuit, and a rotary element consisting of a radial arm pi votally mounted concentric of the stationary member and carrying at its outer end a spring-pressed linger which is electrically connected with the motor circuit and is yieldingly held in contact with the inclined faces of the teeth or projections of the stationary member so that, as the arm is rotated, the contact finger will be swept over the faces of the teeth in succession, snapping down from the high end of one to the low end of the next. This movable switch member is operatively connected both with a driven member of the clock, as for example the spring barrel gear of a spring-actuated clock, and with the armature of the motor in such manner that as the barrel gear turns in the running of the clock the switch finger will be swept slowly over the face of an insulated or dead tooth and at the end of a predetermined period of time will snap therefrom down from the surface of a conductor or live I tooth, closing the motor circuit, and wiil then be swept rapidly over the face of this tooth by the operation of the motor until, the motor having made the number of revolutions required to rewind the clock, it reaches the end thereof and snaps down upon an insulated or dead tooth, thus opening the motor circuit, and so on successively.

One specific embodiment of the invention as so applied in a self-winding clock is shown, by way of illustration but not of limitation, in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective View, substantially full-sized, of a'small automobile or similar clock equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is a view, on an enlarged scale, showing the clock partly in side elevation and partly in section; Figs. 8, l and 5 are sectional views on the lines 3 3, 4 a, and 5 5, respectively, of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a detail, further enlarged, showing the control switch and associated actuating parts in longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 7 is a detail, on the line 7 7 of Fig. 6, showing the control switch principally in front elevation; Figs. 8 and 9 are broken details, showing, in front elevation, the control switch and associated actuating parts in different relative positions; and Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view of the switch and of the motor circuit controlled thereby,

Referring to the drawings, 11 indicates a casing or portion of a casing, with tubular bearing for a hand setting (an usually windmg) stem 12, within which is mounted a standard or any suitable spring-actuated clock movement comprising a main spring 133, spring barrel gear 14, and winding shaft or arbor 15 mounted a s usual, the arbor within the hollow hub of the barrel gear which at its rear outer end is ournaled in the usual skeleton plate 16. The end of the barrel gear hub, usually flush with the back of the skele ten plate, is here provided with a squared er:- tension 17, either formed integral with the hub or suitably joined to the end of the hub of a standard barrel gear, and fixed thereon is a radially projecting finger 18. The winding gear 19, substituted for the usual bevelled winding gear of a standard stem-winding clock movement and fixed as usual by a screw upon the squared end 21 of the arbor 15, which is slightly longer than the standard arbor because of the squared end extension of the barrel gear hub, is recessed in its inner- {210C to accommodate and house the finger 18, is provided with an arcuate and approximately semicircular slot 22, and is secured as usual against rotation by action of the nain spring by a spring-pressed detent 23.

The usual rear cover of the clock casing is omitted, and to the back of this casing is secured, on posts 24, an annular cup-like frame 25, with closed front and at the back a plate detachably secured to rearwardly projecting lugs 27, within which is mounted a small series wound motor comprising an armature 238 with the usual commutator and brushes and a field winding or magnet coil One of the brushes is carried by a post 80, which, set through and suitably insulated from the plate 26, has fixed to its rear outer end a spring contact 31. The other brush is carried by a similar post 32 the rear outer end of which is connected by a wire to an end of the field magnet coil 2. The armature shaft isjournaled at its rear end in a bearing in the plate 26 and its extended forward end, journaledin a bearing 36 in the face wall of the frame 25, carries a toothed pinion 3? meshing with the winding gear 19.

The control switch has for its stationary element an annular lisk or member 38, preferably molded from bakelite or other suitable insulating material, which is secured to the front of the face wall of the frame to one side 01" the armature shaft and in axialaligir ment with the arbor of the clock. The disk is provid d on its front face i. "h two approx imately semi-circular crown teeth or toothlilre projections 39 and ll) the inclined faces oi" 'ch are surfaced with arcua'te copper plates; l1 and 42. The plate on the slight ly larger tooth or projection Sf), has an iutetjral lug J1 ear from which it is connected, by a wire passing through an iur-eulaleu plug set into the face wall oi i i motm' frame, to the end of the field man opposite the end connected to the tact 31, thus constituting the 11 red contact of the switch. The second plate 42 merely pro vides a smooth surface for theinclined face of the tooth or projection 40, insulated by the dish both from the plate ll and from the motor frame. The movable switch member consists of a radial metallic plate or arm 4:5 which at its outer end carries a trailing arcuate spring finger 46 and is pivotally mounted at its inner end, concentrically oi the disk 1-28, upon a metallic screw post set into the face wall of the motor frame, yieldingly pressed forward and heldagainst the head of the post by a coil spring ltlwith trailing finger bearing with spring pressure upon the inclined faced oi the plate 41 or 2-2,

I coil 2d,

the clocu movement, the motor and the switch.

This cap is provided at the back with threaded posts 52 and nuts, by which it may be attached to a panel or other support, and also with an insulated bindingpost 53 the inner head of which engages the springcontact 31 when the cap is in place, properly nositioned by a pin fixed in back of the clock casing and fitting into a recess pro- Yided therefor in the rim of the cap.

hen the clock is s t up the positive side of a battery 55 or other suitable source of elect 'ical energy, 10, is connected by wire 56 to the binding post 58 and thereby to a side of the motor circuit. The other side the battery may be grounded as by wire the opposite side of the motor circuit bealso grounded through the support to be connected back from the wire 57 to the motor circuit by a wire 58 (shown in dotted lines) attached to one of the posts '52. The motor circuit thus establi hed from the battery 55 is by wire 5-3, binding post 52, spring contact 31 and post 30 to and through the armature of the motor to post 82, thence by wire 33 to ant through the field magnet coil E39, thence by wire 4%, switcn contacts 41 and ll (when in engagement), switch arm 45, and post 4L7 to the motor frame, cloclr casing and cap collectively indicated by the wire 57), and thence by "round or wire 58 back to wire 5'? and to the other side of the battery.

The operation of the winding mechanism, which is not only simple in itself but can be apolied to a. standard clock movement with the iew slight changes mentioned, is as follows: The control switch and the arm 18 and winding gear 19 by which the switch is alternately actuated are so related that when the clock is wound up and started these parts will be substantially in the position. shown in 9. The spring contact finger d6 of the movable switch member then bears upon the dead track plate 12 of the stationary switch member, the circ it of the motor is open, the winding gear is held stationary, and the bargear 14, driven by the main spring, begins to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed from the front or the clock and carries with it the finger 18. After a partial revolution of the barrel gear the finger 18 reaches the pin l9 and then, pushing the pin around within the slot- 22 of the Winding gear,

wnich the clock is attached, or, if desired, canswings the contact finger 46 along the surface of the dead track plate 42 until, at the end of a complete revolution of the barrel gear, it snaps from the high end of this plate down upon the low end of the live contact plate 41, thus closing the motor circuit. Thereupon, the motor starts and almost instantly rotates the winding gear and arbor, also in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the front, through a complete revolution in the course of which the rear end of the slot 22 overtakes the pin 49 and then sweeps the contact finger 46 around to the end of the contact plate 41, whereupon the finger snaps therefrom down upon the track plate 42 and opens the motor circuit. Thus, with every revolution of the arrel gear in the running of the clock, the motor is started and by one revolution of the clock arbor rewinds the main spring to the same extent to which it has run down and then stops. This cycle of operations is constantly repeated.

The clock here illustrated and described is so designed that it will run for seven to eight hours when fully wound and in running its barrel gear will make one revolution, and thereby start the motor and rewind th spring, every five hours, and the motor employed therewith is so designed as to oper ate on a current having a potential of approximately seven volts. The main spring therefore will at all times remain partially wound, thus contributing to the accurate running of the clock.

These details, however, are unimportant, since it is obvious that the invention, with or without modification in the structural details of the switch and switch-actuating mechanism, is applicable to clocks generally, to weight-actuated as well as spring-actuated clocks and to the rewinding of a strike movement as well as of the running movement, and for other purposes.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, a rotary snap switch and, for its actuation, a rotary member carrying a radially extending finger mounted in axial alignment with the switch and adapted to be driven continuously at a relatively slow speed, a second rotary member having an arcuate slot mounted between said finger and the switch in axial alignment therewith and adaptedto be driven intermittently at a relatively high rate of speed, and an element carried by the movable switch member ex tending through the slot in said second member into the path of the finger carried by said first member.

2. In a spring-actuated mechanism having a spring-barrel and arbor, a finger mounted to rotate with the spring-barrel, a winding gear with an arcuate slot fixed to the end of the arbor adjacent the finger, and a rotary snap switch mounted in axial alignment with the arbor and having fixed to its movable member a pin. projecting through. the slot in the winding gear intothe path of the finger, whereby theswitch will be shifted from on to off position by. the revolution of the springbarrel and from on to off position by the revolution of the arbor.

3. In a spring-actuated mechanism having a spring-barrel; and arbor, switch mounted concentric of said spring-- barrel andarbor comprising a disk-shaped stationary element having a plurality of tooth-like peripheral projections of approximately equal length and with faces alternately connected with and insulatedv from one side of an electric circuit and a rotatably mounted element having a spring-pressed contact electrically connected with the other side of the electric circuit and adapted to yieldingly engage the faces of said projeo tions and to spring from the, high end' of" one down upon thelow end ofthe next, atlve connections whereby finger will be the said contactswept alternately along and from a projection with insulated face to a.

pro ection with conductor face by the rotation of the spring-barrel and along'and' from a PI'OJQCtiOIl with conductor, face to aprojection with insulated face by. the. rotation of the arbor.

4. In a spring-actuated mechanism having a spring-barrel and arbor, the combination ofa finger-fixed to and rotating with the hub of the spring-barrel, a winding gear provided with. :an arcuate slot fixed to and rotating with the outer end of the arbor, a rotary, snap switch mounted in axial align ment with the spring-barrel and arbor and adapted to keep an. electric circuit open through a partial revolution and closed through another and approximately e ual partial revolution of its movable mem er, and for the actuation of the switch a pin fixed to its movable member and extending through the slot in the winding gear into the path of said finger, the parts being so related that the movable switch member will be shifted from open to closed position by the movement of the spring-barrel and finger and from open to closedv position by the movement of the winding gear. a

5. In a spring-actuated mechanism having a spring-barrel and arbor, the combination of a finger fixed to the hub of the springbarrel, a winding gear provided with an arcuate slot fixed to the outer end of the arbor, and a rotary snap switch mounted in axial alignment with the spring-barrel and arbor comprising a fixed element of non-conducting material having a plurality of peripheral teeth alternately faced with conducting material connected with one side of an electric circuit, a rotary element With spring contact-finger connected with the other side of the electric circuit and yielda rotary snap.

and operingly bearing on the teeth of the stationary member, and an actuating pin carried by the rotary member, and extending through the slot in the winding gear and into the path of the finger on the spring-barrel, the said slot and teeth being all of approximately equal length and so related that the springfinger of the switch will be swept over and snap down from an insulated tooth of the switch by the rotation of the spring-barrel and will be swept over and snap down from a tooth with conductor face by the rotation of thewinding gear.

G. In a spring-actuated mechanismhaving a spring-barrel and arbor, the combina 'tion of a finger mounted on and rotating with the hub of the spring-barreh'a winding gear having an approximately semi-annular slot mounted on and rotating with the out'erend of the arbor, and a rotary snap switch mounted in'axial alignment with the spring-barrel and arbor comprising'a fixed disk-shaped element of insulatingmaterialhaving two approximatelysemi-annular crown teeth one of which is faced with conducting material connected with one side of an electric circuit a rotary element carrying at the end of a radial arm a trailing spring contact-finger of conducting material connected to the other side of the electric circuit and yieldingly engaging the faces of the teeth of the stationary element, and an actuating member carried by the rotary switch element and extending through theslot in the winding gear into the path of the finger on the spring-barrel, the parts being so related that the actuating member will be adjacent therear'end of the slot in the winding gear when the contactfinger rests on the low end of the tooth with theinsulated face.

' 'UNO L. SUNDBLAD. 

